Well... I just finished this manga and decided to write a comment. Mostly just to state my experiences with "Fullmetal alchemist" ^^

You think the beginning is just the usual and the characters showing up won't be of any use anymore - scratch that, not even the chimera-girl in the beginning was forgotten. This is quite unusual and to be honest, I love it. Every character has its own role - and is absolutely needed. And furthermore: They aren't just forgotten when their arc is over. In some way they resurface - and that's the fun part. It makes the whole story complete and adds to its plot.
Needless to say, the characters are freaking loveable. That's a bit unusual for me to say nowadays about characters in a shounen manga, but hey, what can you do? It could maybe be due to the hilarious espressions and actions of them, because of their personalities and their fights. But you should just check it out for yourselves - you'll most likely like our little, easily irritatable alchemist-kid Ed, the big sweet cat-loving and slightly naive amor Al, the date-and-woman-loving Roy Mustang with his over-serious gun-fighting sitter Riza, the feared-by-all-housewife and her hubby and and and. But heck, that alone can't describe those charas. Check out the manga for that!

But it's not the characters or the art style - it's quite nice by the way and it gets better the longer it goes on (and there's (character) growth visible) - that makes FMA what it is today: It's the plot.
It's slightly surprising. At the beginning it was hard for me to get into FMA, but the longer it went on, and especially when I past the point where the old anime finished, I got hooked. I loved the anime before - but for some reason I still had a problem to continue reading the manga since many elements were familiar and maybe because I thought some other elements would be similar as well.
Haha, I should have known better. Stupid me, all that was similar was the beginning. It went on a different turn then and took me along with it ^^ I got hooked. And finished the manga quite fast as well. To tell the truth, I really enjoyed FMA. And of course, why not? FMA knows how to be convincing with a clear, pretty art style, also great characters and an amazing plot.

I would just like to leave a last note: Even if you aren't convinced by this manga at the beginning, keep on reading. Things change. The characters grow up, you can see them mature and this also in an visible way. Things you may hated at first could change - but if you just hate the characters and wish them all death, it may be better to cease reading.
But honestly, if you aren't exactly obsessed with a genre not listed up there, you should just give FMA a try. Who knows, maybe it will become you new favourite manga? At least it has the potential!

... Last updated on June 24th, 2011, 6:19pm

this is an absolute masterpiece. love it

one thing i noticed was that the cause of the ishbalan war is similar to the cause of the world war.
and the date of marcoh's death is 1914.. it sorta rings a bell..

and yeah, this one really sets you thinking about life and its intricacies.
i dont want to ramble on.. there are plenty of comments following mine to enlighten you.

... Last updated on May 8th, 2011, 10:36am

This is one of the best shounen manga I read. The art is great, the plot is magnificent, the themes presented are the apparent brain child of a genius and the characters are likable. It embraces a lot of genres, from action and comedy to romance (the romance is not all over the place which is good). The pace of the story does not drag. I highly recommend this.

i saw all the anime and read the manga and all i can say is..AWSOME!!!!!
the anime is better then the manga so WATCH THE ANIME!!!!!#$@*!
this is one of the best animes i have ever seen!!

I loved the manga, but in my opinion, the anime is much better, but I didn't really care that they really redid the whole series, alot of the fights they just repeated, but the second series had a better ending i'll give it that

not much to say, same as everyone here, enjoy it very much and its just one of those rare shounen manga that have a deep plot and amazing characters and just overall awesomeness ^_^

As of today, I believe this undeniably one of the best shounen manga ever. The characters are clearly defined, the plot makes complete sense, everything is tied together. Everything contributes to the story and none of the chapter felt like a waste of time. It feels real; nothing comes out of freaking nowhere, although a few things are extremely coincidental. When I finished it I had this wow feeling.

Full-metal Alchemist is certainly a unique work. The variety of Genres (Action, Comedy, Thriller, Tradedy, Science-Fiction, SUpernatural, Love) within this manga made it a "fun" and freshly different read. The Art is completely amazing and the actions portrayed in response to the scene are spot on . The anime is 100% must watch. The only flaw with the manga is that is completely addicting and it leaves you engaged until the end, regardless of the fact that there is a horendous amount of the chapters. Personally, through my perspective my preferences lie with Bleach because im a sucker for Shinigami Action. This is a must Read and a one way ticket to a heaven of sheer action, great art and One hell of an amazing manga. usually i read drop-dead gorgeous Bishounens in SHoujo but this Shonen Jump is Great. No bishounens though ;3

I loved it! I was hooked after reading the first volume. I was sad that it ended, (even though I was laughing through the entire final chapter) but I'm happy it wasn't one of those that went on forever. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Well, very untypical as far as shounen genre goes. It's a fun read and you should seriously consider reading it if you haven't done it already. Don't expect deep story plot in this one, only pure fun.
Art is OK, nothing too fancy here.
What raised the rating for me was great ending which summed and tied all the ends together. I read that some people wanted a second part. I disagree with that as it would only ruin the manga.
And for the end, one thing was bugging me: How can Alphonse see when he has no eyes, how can he hear when he has no ears, how can he move when he has no muscles, how can he talk when he has no tongue or vocal cords?(all in armor form to be precise) Think about it.